April 2003

"Death As A Salesman:
What's Wrong with Assisted Suicide" Documentary Updated

Brian Johnston, director of "Death As A Salesman: What's Wrong with Assisted Suicide," sets up a shot with photographer John March. New footage has been added to examine what happened in Oregon under its "Death with Dignity" Act. The documentary used six different crews and includes segments from England, the Netherlands, Oregon, California, and Washington state. The 30-minute video is designed to quickly familiarize viewers with the dangers of legalized assisted suicide. It is available for $21.95 from New Regency Publishing, (800) 266-5639. See story, page 16.

Senate Narrowly Endorses Roe v. Wade

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Passes U.S. Senate; Pro-Life Forces in House Work to Defeat "Phony Ban"

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tn.), the Senate's only physician, stressed the pain caused to the unborn child. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio). The lead House sponsor of the ban, chaired a public hearing on March 25.

WASHINGTON (April 5, 2003) -- The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act has cleared a major hurdle. On March 13, after three days of heated debate, the U.S. Senate passed its version of the bill (S. 3), sponsored by Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), on a lopsided vote of 64-33.

However, two more major obstacles must be overcome before the bill - - which the National Right to Life Committee helped to initiate in 1995 - - can actually end the brutal method of killing a partially born baby.

First, the bill still faces concerted resistance from pro-abortion forces in the House of Representatives. Once that resistance is overcome and the bill is signed by President Bush, it will face immediate legal challenges in the federal courts, with its fate ultimately to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

ACTION ALERT

Help Defeat the "Phony Ban" - - and Help Defeat Media Myths About Partial-Birth Abortion!

An Exercise in Courage and Persistence

By Roger Stenson

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wi.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, won committee approval of the ban on partial-birth abortion March 26. The ban still faces concerted resistance from pro-abortion forces in the House.

New Hampshire State Representative Tom Rice walked, slowly, into the committee room. He had just had back surgery a week and a half earlier and was ordered by his doctor to stay home for four weeks. "Don't go anywhere," he was told. Stay home for four weeks.

Not Tom Rice. Not when there was a vote on a parental notice bill in his Judiciary Committee. It was March 18. He was two weeks shy of his 80th birthday. He could not stand for any length of time. He could not sit in the committee chairs for any length of time. He could not drive himself to the committee voting session. He was in pain and needed assistance to go anywhere.

All he asked for was a ride in a comfortable car, big enough for him to get in and out of without hurting himself. He needed the car to wait for him so he could be taken home as quickly as possible.

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From the President

Wanda Franz, Ph.D.

WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.

--Genesis 1:27

And one of them tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

--Matthew 23:35-39

God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments.

--from a prayer by John Henry Newman, recounted by Robert P. Lockwood in Our Sunday Visitor, April 6, 2003

Recently, the Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman ("Outlawing Science," 3/30/2003) railed against the U.S. House of Representatives having voted to outlaw human cloning. She writes: "As bioethicist Art Caplan says, 'The House vote reflects just one thing: the desire to get legal status for an embryo. This is the back door way to get it done. They want to get into law that you can't destroy an embryo because it is a person.' [M]odern science sees an embryo as a potential life or a blueprint for life. To say that a blueprint is a human being, says Caplan, is like saying that the lumber and nails at Home Depot are a house." [All italics added].